Last week we talked a bit about character creation so this week let's talk about character stats.

So since this is part RPG and part TD we of course have to give the characters some attributes that increase and make your character stronger. We decided to go along with the traditional strength, stamina, etc stats because everyone is familiar with them and they work well. However, the actual affect of each stat tends to vary from game to game but they usually follow a general idea. We'll be doing the same in HTD.

Here are what we have as the Primary stats:

Strength (STR) - Increases Physical Damage

Stamina (STA) - Increases Health Points

Agility (AGI) - Increases Speed

Dexterity (DEX) - Increases Skill

Intelligence (INT) - Increases Magical Damage

Pretty straight forward however something to keep in mind is that Magical Damage does not refer to elemental damage. Physical Damage covers the Physical side of the elemental skills while Magical Damage covers the Magical side of the elemental skills.

You might be asking, what does Speed and Skill do? For that we have the Secondary stats:

General:

Health Points (HP) - Your amount of life

Speed (SPD) - How fast you are at attacking and dodging

Skill (SKL) - How skilled you are at hitting and recovering

Attack:

Physical Power (PP) - How strong you are with physical weapons and skills

Magical Power (MP) - How strong you are with magical weapons and skills

Armor:

Physical Defense (FD) - How much physical damage you mitigate

Magical Defense (MD) - How much magical damage you mitigate

Attunements:

Fire Attunement (FA) - Your ability to control and resist Fire

Water Attunement (WA) -Your ability to control and resist Water

Nature Attunement (NA) - Your ability to control and resist Nature

Light Attunement (LA) -Your ability to control and resist Light

Shadow Attunement (SA) - Your ability to control and resist Shadow

Speed basically increases how fast you are dashing up to the enemy (if you're meleeing) then attacking and your projectile speed whether it's phyiscal or magical. Speed also increases your chance to dodge physical attacks.

Skill increases your chance to get a critical hit, possibly increases your chance to hit with a physical attack (if we even have missing possible which we are still figuring out), and cooldown rate. If you look at the Skill stat you can see it's pretty awesome, but this is a stat that will be difficult to raise and won't have an abundance of it so don't think you'll be able to make a character with nearly 0 cooldown.. well if you managed to expect something to get nerfed :P

We changed our use of the word attunement, when we first mentioned it we referred to it as the element you initially picked that defined your character's starting point. We'll just call that your Native Element or something instead because the term is better used here. So your attunement stats are dual purpose. They represent both how strong you are with that element and your resistance against it.

Now here's where we add in some S&D flavor and change things up a bit. You won't be getting any actual attribute points to assign to these stats specifically. Instead these stats get raised by items and what we refer to as Class Skill Points (CSP) that you get every time you level up. CSPs are used to get class skills which follow a similar Physical/Magical set up with 5 categories on each side with skills for each. This is how you'll be choosing your class essentially and how you use these points will determine your Class Title (like Warrior, Paladin, Mage, etc). I won't be going into details about this yet but basically what happens is as you level up and build your character by assigning the elemental and class points you have earned your Class Title will change accordingly.

On the art side of things Kevin is working on the female animations and hair which you can find more of at Kevin's blog, KXN @ HTD. He also has a poll up on which hairstyle you guys would like to see first, be sure to put in your vote! Here's some sketches:

Human Female Sketches

That's all for now, sorry for the end-of-day post but we were both busy most of the day.

As always let us know what you think and leave your feedback in the comments, thanks!

I found something I really loved in this post: dynamic class title. Very much to the theme as the upcoming Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, we get to define our character's class rather than have the class define us. I am curious about what classes will be available and am wondering whether you would release a list for us to try and achieve or send us into the unknown and have us discover the classes on our own. Either way, I love it. :)

And with the Physical Power, there is room to have such an item as PP Up. ;)

Hey sam and dan, just curious as to what language you guys are using currently for your games.

i'm actually a game scripter/coder myself, i've worked on mmorpg's some big titles and some small, this is not a joke, or prank of any sort, i'm just programmer, just like yourselves, and personally, i love tower defense games, they are simple, relaxing, and all-round fun games, your Pokemon tower defense is very creative in the sense of how you made it, and i don't believe people have given enough credit to you both for that, and the huge amount of disrespect that the cheaters and hackers have shown is simply childish, the Hero tower defense game is looking very entertaining from what i have read and seen. I'm looking forward to playing it also.

I'm commenting under Anonymous for several reasons, but mainly just to show no disrespect by posting my name or any other information then is needed, due to you both and myself being programmers.

I look forward to possibly seeing a response to this, if not, it is very understandable, due to busy schedules.

@anon 5:20those are the questions they keep on answering so I'll save them the job1. yes, but you'll be able to buy some items with SnD coins2. none knows (Sam and Dan included) but as soon as they get something playable they will put it for us to play3. it that even a question? well this was LOL

Further down the line of Pokemon tower defense, I think it might be cool to incorporate more items like revives, stronger potions, some of the stat boosting items like iron, to serve more use for this seeming endless supply of money you get.For Hero tower defense there's so many possibilities like: set items, crafting, teams/guild/multiplayer, different races, and all of the basics of famous rpgs. But I think the most important things are how customizable the character and the skill trees are.But one question: can we use many of our own heroes at the same time, or do we only use one at a time? Obviously, coop will have more than one character on a level but can you only use one character during gameplay? I'm not sure which way I'd prefer it but just wondering.

OK, getting into the nitty-gritty stats that makes me so biased for/against certain characters. Good to know usual HP, strength, defense, etc. stats are still in game. Should there be a luck stat (increase odds of critical hits and dodging) as well, or does skill have that covered?

Yes! Affinities are back! That ought to spice the game up. Too bad supports won't be in there (or will they?)...Earth-Earth support FTW!

Will equipment/weapons increase stats in this game? I know some games do this whereas other don't (i.e. weapons affect accuracy, power, and speed. They support stats that determine accuracy and such without actually increasing said stats).

Using points to determine our classes huh...interesting concept you've got going there. Add that on top of the fact that RNG hasn't reared it's ugly head as of yet...it looks like we'll be the masters of our character's destinies!

Kevin's sketches looking as brilliant as ever. She really does look graceful and deadly. Looks pretty cute too (though the inner Pauly in me is screaming at her to put some clothes on).

Can't wait for next Tuesday! This and the PTD updates are what keep boredom from seeping into my work-filled life.

@Anon 12:10 AM - We don't have an ETA as of yet, as soon as we have something playable you'll find it here.

Sly Kamaui - Interesting, I don't even know anything about Skyrim. I guess it's good to know we're thinking along the same lines of large, quality developers without even knowing it.

We don't have a list or anything yet but even if we did we probably wouldn't release it because it's more fun letting you guys experiment and see what classes you end up as and what titles you discover. We expect there to be quite a few titles though because of all the possible combinations, this also caters a bit towards all those people asking for numerous classes/jobs/etc. Something very important though is that we have to make sure that if someone makes a character that is along the lines of say a Paladin that you'll have the Paladin title. That'll take some tweaking I'm sure.

Lol, yes I suppose there is room for that. :P

@Anon 3:21 AM - Cool! Always nice having fellow game developers commenting on our stuff. All the PTD credit goes to Sam though, I don't know anything about Pokemon really. I work mainly on Ninja-Ja and HTD.

To answer your question about which language we use it's Flash actionscript 3. Also Sam is the main programmer, I'm just learning with Ninja-Ja.

Hackers and cheaters come with the territory, they can be helpful though because they expose flaws in the games and ultimately make them more secure.

Feel free to post however you feel is best, anon or not, all comments and feedback are welcome. :)

@Anon 4:10 AM - No

@Valek - Thanks!

@Boo Mariobroz - I'm older. I agree, HTD is going to be awesome! :)

@Anon 9:15 AM - Kevin would have to comment on that heh

@xXChileanAnonymuSXx - Hi, nice, indeed

@Nicholas Smith - Glad you like it!

We are friends, here's a post from awhile back that explains some of our history:http://samdangames.blogspot.com/2011/04/whos-dan-and-what-has-he-been-up-to.html

@Anon 5:20 PM - Gon is correct

@Gon - Thanks :P

@cassidizzle - I agree, character and skill customization are important which is why we're going to be putting a lot of effort into those and getting as much feedback from you guys as possible. Balancing will certianly be tricky.

Right now we're thinking you'll be able to use up to 5 characters at a time (you might have more available but can only use 5 on the field). These characters will join you as you play through single player and such.

@Chris Tan - Skill and Speed have critical hits and dodging covered. I never understood why luck would affect those kinds of things, lol

Affinities? Are you referring to the attunements? What are supports? Earth-Earth support, what? This must be Pokemon talk or something lol

Pretty much all of your equipment will affect your stats one way or another, yes.

I despise RNG so it's not likely you'll see very much of it. There will be things like crit chance and dodge chance but those are affected by your stats so you have control over it.

i hope sam got to see the post too then, because PTD is coming together very well, also, Ninja-ja looks very entertaining also, personally i love to play games like Fruit Ninja when waiting around at doctor's or work, it helps pass the time, and Ninja-ja reminds me a lot of those types of games.

Just some friendly advice, never give up on programming, even when it gets annoying, the best advice i can give, is give yourself a break, and when you feel ready, that is the best time to work on it, because if it is forced and rushed, you suffer and so does the work.

Personally I've never worked with Flash actionscript but the work looks like its coming together.

when i get the extra money i will feel free to donate for sure, it's best to help out people especially when they are doing their best.

My best suggestion for PTD and Hero Tower Defense, is to put in HoT, or AoE-H skills.

HoT = Healing Over Time. AoE-H Area of effect Healing, but i'd personally suggest these skills be obtainable Via the stores with S&D coins, something like 5 coins each or such, small suggestion.

Also, this is just for you and dan, i think you should both pick up a copy of Terra-Online or The Secret World when they come out, and we might be able to game together.

Also, if either of you are ever in San Francisco after school or within the next few months, just post it on your blog, and i might be able to get either of you a job interview with Aeria Games.

@ Dan: It's not pokemon talk. It's Fire emblem talk. Affinities are almost like attunements. In Fire Emblem, each character had their own affinity such as fire, earth, dark, heaven, etc. Each map in Fire Emblem has its own affinity as well. If a character's affinity matches up with the map's, he/she gains stat boosts.

Support is a link between two characters in-game. Supports can be increased from C rank to A rank by sending supporting units out on the same map, shoving each other, standing next to each other.

For gaming purposes, said characters gain certain stat boosts depending on the affinity of the other supporting character. For example, a unit who has a support with another unit with an earth affinity gains a significant avoidance rate so long as the supporting units are within three spaces from each other. That is why Earth-Earth support is so amazing. Nobody can touch you.

Story-wise, it's much more interesting. The problem with Fire Emblem is that minor character's personalities are not fleshed out much since the focus is on main character development and the battles they fight. That's what support conversations are for: they give these "minor characters" personalities that make them more distinct besides stats and classes (except in FE 10 where they butchered the support system). For example, in FE 9, you can gain a myrmidon named Mia, who was hired by an allied army as a mercenary. Without support conversations, that's all you would know about her. With a combination of supports, you find out that she's in search of a rival and that the reason why she picked up a sword was because she wants to prove that a woman is capable of holding a sword (and her growths support that!). In some cases, it heightens relationships, even to the point of marriage (for certain supports only).

Of course, I'm not expecting HTD to have a support system nor do I actually want one (though I won't complain if there is one). HTD is supposed to be different from other RPGs and Tower Defense games, no? Anyways, if the game is as story-based as I think it will be, there should be plenty of time to expand on your team members's personalities.

@ Chris Tan - I've always been a hater of "Luck" as a mechanic, ever since the days of Mario Party, through the days of World of Warcraft, up to my recent experiences with getting, uhm, "luck-screwed" in Mario Kart Wii. Why anyone would find luck or chance an interesting mechanic is beyond me...

Worry not, this work-in-progress sheet is of course just the base character design, something you'll really only see when the character is (obviously) not wearing any armor. She'll put some clothes on before the game's launch. :)

@ Anonymous Programmer - I hearby dub thee "Anonymous Programmer"!

I have that force and rush problem with artwork all the time too, in fact I'm struggling to pull myself out of a bad phase of it now.

@ Chris Tan - You guys are making me miss my days with Fire Emblem argharaghargh. I loved the hell out of that first one (which I believe was actually Fire Emblem 7, but I mean the first one to come to the states). I kind of lost interest when the series went console, as I felt the graphics and animation started to suffer in exchange for the 3D visuals...

@ Anonymous (4:13 PM) - All of this demand for archers, I'll make sure to do that before casting.

@ Kevin: Well, you could always turn off the combat animation. To me, the first ones on US soil will always be the best. The 3D ones are good too story and combat wise (though some characters could use improvement stat and personality wise *cough*Micaiah*cough*).

Each of them brings something to the table. FE 7 gave us the tactician character. FE 8 gave us monsters (sorry, haven't played that one in a good while). FE 9 gave us 3D graphics plus just about the best lord ever IMO(I like Ike!). FE 10 gave us a lengthy story and the control of different factions (even pitting them against each other at a few points).

Just don't get Shadow Dragon. Worst one yet here in the US. All it gave us was Marth (easily one of the worst lords out there next to Roy stat-wise, though it could be due to the fact that they start off as lords unlike Ike who gets to promote to Lord/Vanguard). They took out support and base conversations in general for whatever reason.

@Chris, yeah... I found her as more of a baggage than an offensive character. Also, I agree that Shadow Dragon was more of an insult to the Fire Emblem name than a game. @Kevin, I agree with Anonymous Programmer. I do that with my homework (I swear I'm not procrastinating) sometimes. Another thing is to just go on the internet and look up random stuff (Like hair/eyes) and see if anything gives you inspiration. If you can't think of anything there, go draw a giant sword or something.

I am a newcomer to SnD games .... Had only played PTD for about a week but I LIKE IT so much that I have every catchable non-legendary Pokemon plus a few shines all above level 35.

Anyway I am here to suggest that your NATIVE ELEMENT is not of your choosing. Instead, it will be determined by your answers to a short questionnaire. Sounds reminiscing? Pokemon Mystery Dungeon! If you don't like your native element, I don't think it's such a big issue. It's only a small bonus .... and you are still allowed to pick some of other elements' skills.

I also have a question. What if someone invests all their points for water skills? Would this mean that he/she can not attack since water only has defend/utility capability? That would be bad if someone chose water at the start at the game .....

@Anon Programmer - Thanks for the advice! :) Yeah, it gets frustrating sometimes but I'm learning and it's good to know so I keep at it.

Thanks! The donations/purchases are always helpful and keep us going.

HTD will definitely have HoTs/DoTs and AoEs, they are staples of RPGs after all. You won't need SnD Coins to get them because we don't want there to be any exclusive items/abilities/etc that give you a technical benefit. SnD Coins are there for people that are interested in donating and/or buying things in order to save themselves time, for buying cosmetic only items, making things more convenient, etc.

I'm not familiar with those games but even if I was I can honestly say I don't have much free time and neither does Sam really. I have a whole list of games I want to play lol

We're both on the East coast so that's unlikely really, but good to know! :)

@Chris Tan - Ah Fire Emblem, that one keeps popping up yet we've never played any of them lol. That's pretty cool with the map having an affinity as well, hmm.

Oh I gotcha now about the support. Interesting mechanic for sure. The idea of having other characters nearby with a similar affinity and having it boost you both is pretty cool. We do plan to have some kind of mechanic that takes affect when you are nearby eachother so will have to keep this in mind.

Right, HTD will be different (at least as far as we know from the games we've played) but it's always good to hear what other games have done and are doing. We certainly hope to make a cool story and fun characters but as I've said in the past we aren't really writers so we'll see how it turns out hah

@Anon 4:13 PM - There will most definitely be ranged classes similar to what you've listed if you build your character to be that way. :)

@juandiego1993 - Thanks!

@Anon 10:12 PM - Thanks, we're definitely working towards getting you guys something as soon as we can. These things just take time is all. :)

@giannis - When we have something to put out. :P

@danychriz - Interesting idea but eventually people would just go online and figure out what answers to give in order to get the native element they want so it's kind of a wasted effort. We'll most likely be providing a way to change your native element anyway becuase like having that flexibility, but it won't be just a "reset" button you click but rather like a quest or something.

Good question about the skills. The offense/defense/utility categories of the elements are just what they specialize in, not what they are limited to. All the elements will have skills of all types within them but overall the skills they contain will lean heavily in the direction of their category. So don't worry, if you go all light or something you won't be a helpless healer mule or something. :P

@Anon 9:46 AM - Yeah, we are planning to. Good to know it's being requested as well though, thanks. :)

for buying cosmetic items, could i make a huge suggestion, and that is, to make a Akita Neru and Hatsune Miku outfits for the female class characters, because i know fans of them would buy them for sure.

the game is so hardddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd!